Malaika Mihambo waited arm in arm with her trainer Uli Knapp for the distance of her last jump and smiled at the camera. The Olympic champion had already secured gold and the renewed World Championship title in the long jump; it was all about the world annual best and her own aspirations. “I would have liked to have jumped further because I know that I can do better,” she told ARD after her jump to 7.12 meters. “Today it’s all about the title. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to do my best.” At this point on Sunday (local time), she “couldn’t really classify” the successful defense of the title.
However, the late gold is not enough to brighten up the German World Cup balance in the long term. The German Athletics Association has drawn a disappointing balance of the tournament in Eugene. “We have to admit that we are not satisfied with the outcome of the World Cup and did not expect it that way,” said head coach Annett Stein on Sunday (local time). After ten days of competition, there was just gold by Mihambo and a bronze medal for the women’s sprint relay. This is the worst German yield in World Cup history. The fewest medals to date were in Paris in 2003 with one silver and three bronze.
For Mihambo it is the fourth major title of her career after the 2018 European Championship gold, the 2019 World Cup gold and the Olympic victory in Tokyo 2021. As a two-time world champion, the 28-year-old draws level with her role model Heike Drechsler, who won gold in 1983 and 1993. Ese Brume of Nigeria took silver with 7.02 metres. Bronze went to the Brazilian Leticia Oro Melo, whose first and only valid jump of 6.89 meters was enough.
After bronze for the women’s 4×100 meter relay, Mihambo’s title was only the second podium for the German Athletics Association at the first World Championships in the USA – and it stayed that way at the end.
After two failed attempts, Mihambo initially had to worry about being among the top eight jumpers in the final and being able to complete the three more jumps. After 6.98 meters in the third attempt, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief and promptly moved up to second place. “There’s always drama. I knew that the third one had to be there – Brett or not, as long as it was valid,” she said.
In the fourth jump she managed a jump of 7.09 meters, with which she took the lead. The last attempt then brought the winning distance – like a year ago in Tokyo. This time, however, she had already secured the title before the jump. “I didn’t actually doubt myself, I calmed down. I just trust myself to be there even in such crisis situations,” she said. In the end, the 7.12 meters were one centimeter less than the world record for the year by Australian Brooke Buschkuehl, who finished fifth with 6.87 meters.
This season, Mihambo had only jumped over seven meters once before. Right at the start you get 7.09 meters in Birmingham. On the way to the World Cup and European Championships, the athlete from LG Kurpfalz became champion for the sixth time at the German championships in Berlin at the end of June and had successfully started the title triple project, but she was at the seven-meter mark with her best sentence at 6.85 meters has not yet come close again. In the qualification in Eugene, she had landed her only jump after 6.84 meters and thus had the second best distance.
In contrast to the Olympic year, Mihambo’s run-up fits again this season. “The inrun is much more stable. I feel safer, I’m faster, my sprint technique is better again,” she said before the World Cup. “So it definitely looks better than last year.” The speeds are similar to 2019 – and back then she became world champion in Doha with a strong 7.30 meters.